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Monthly Meetings
- About the meetingThe Society meets on the third Tuesday of each month in the Village Day Club room on the RAAFA Memorial Estate, Bull Creek Drive, Bull Creek.
Please note that the location of the monthly meeting has changed. Click here for directions to the Village Day Club room.
Meetings commence at 7.30 pm, and all are welcome and attendance is free. Following is a list of speakers scheduled to present with a summary of their topic.
- March 2023
Date – Tuesday March 21
Guest Speaker – Mykola Mowczan, President of the Ukrainian Association of WA
Topic – A brief history of Ukraine
Ukraine’s early attempts at independence, the bid for independence after 1989, the development of a fledgling and later successful democracy in spite of an interfering Russia, the annexing of Crimea, the Russian invasion, how the war has developed and Mykola’s prognosis for the future.
- April 2023
Date – Tuesday April 18
Guest Speaker – Vincent Shaw assisted by Peter Illidge
Topic – The War of 1812 from a naval perspective
America successfully fought several important battles on the high seas and the Great lakes against a superior naval power. This aspect of that war warrants a separate presentation.
- May 2023
Date – Tuesday May 16
Guest Speaker – Tony Atkinson
Topic – The Odyssey of Second-Lieutenant Raymond Makowiak
Captured at the fall of the entrenched camp of Điện Biên Phủ, Second-Lieutenant Raymond Makowiak escaped his captors on the first night of a hellish ordeal that befell 11,000 French Union troops, including the able-bodied and injured, who were forced to march hundreds of kilometres to POW camps in northern Vietnam. Fewer than 4,000 men were eventually returned to French hands. Through a combination of his bush craft, luck, and knowledge of the local language, Makowiak made it to safety in Laos in an odyssey that spanned three weeks and 200 kilometres through almost-impenetrable jungle and over steep mountains, all the while evading Viet Minh forces operating in the area. This is the story of his remarkable journey. - June 2023
Date – Tuesday June 20
Guest Speaker – Vincent Shaw
Topic – The first US bombing raids over Berlin
Initially unsuccessful this offensive in conjunction with Bomber Command eventually crippled the German economy.
- July 2023
Date – Tuesday July 18
Guest Speaker – Peter Illidge
Topic – Could better general-ship have saved Singapore
The controversy still rages this way and that amongst historians. Peter will try for something more conclusive.
- August 2023
Date – Tuesday August 15
Guest Speaker – John Tick and Trevor Carboon
Topic – Battlefield radio communications during the Vietnam conflict.
- September 2023
Date – Tuesday September 19
Guest Speaker – John Adeney
Topic – The battle of Westralia Hill
John has given a previous talk on Westralia Hill which is a Boer War site of an action involving Australian Soldiers. This talk will take the form of a discussion with small display of original Boer War uniforms and equipment.
- October2023
Date – Tuesday October 17
Guest Speaker – Nigel Earnshaw
Topic – To be advised
- November 2023
Date – Tuesday November 21
Guest Speaker – To be advised
Topic –